[SOLVED] function goes into endless loop

[qhiiyr]

Hello, I'm trying to make a recursive function to search all subfolders for an index.php file and make one with this file's contents if there's not one there. But whenever I call the function, it sends the page into an infinite loop and I hit a maximum execution time error. This is the function:

 

<?php
function makeindex($start) {
foreach(glob($start . "/*") as $folder) {
	if(filetype($folder) == "dir") {
		if(!file_exists($folder . "/index.php")) {
			file_put_contents($folder . "/index.php", file_get_contents("index.php"));
		}
		makeindex($folder);
	}
}
}
?>

 

The main file's name itself is index.php, so with file_put_contents() I'm writing the contents of the index.php in the current directory (which can get a little confusing).

 

I'm calling the function with makeindex("").

 

Any help with this is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[marmite]

I'm a bit new to this but it looks as though you're calling the function from within the function - that's illegal!

 

This would send it into an infinite loop (only if the various IF stmts returned true so it hit the call to "makeindex").

[per1os]

That is not illegal as long as there is an escape. Marmite is right about calling itself inside itself is throwing the infinite loop.

 

Calling a function within a function is called Recursion and is used quite extensively. You just have to have the right code so it doesn't create an infinite loop.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive

 

 

[qhiiyr]

Yep, but it turns out I've got it figured out, thanks to a friend, and here's what he explained to me:

 

Every folder has two hidden links inside it. One, which you're probably aware of, is the ".." link (or more familiarly "../"), which goes up one folder. The other is ".", which goes to the folder itself. So my function is hitting the "." link every time and going into the same folder it was just in, which sends it into the infinite loop.

 

So the changed code looks like this:

 

<?php
function makeindex($start) {
foreach(glob($start . "/*") as $folder) {
	if(filetype($folder) == "dir" && $folder != ".") { // changed line
		if(!file_exists($folder . "/index.php")) {
			file_put_contents($folder . "/index.php", file_get_contents("index.php"));
		}
		makeindex($folder);
	}
}
}
?>

 

Thanks for your guys' help!